Dear Parents and Carers

We were blessed with perfect weather for our Years 3 to 6 Athletics Carnival on Monday.  It was wonderful to see everyone having the opportunity to particpate in all the different events.  A huge thank you to all the staff involved, events such as these require a great deal of coordination and support from all staff.  We also thank the parents who assisted on the day. Mr Murphy is currently working through all the results to identify who will represent St Clare's at the upcoming SSV District Athletics Carnival.

We are very proud of our girls soccer team who represented St Clare's in the SSV Cardinia Division Winter Sport Finals last Friday.  They should great sportsmanship and determination to finish runners up.  Well done!

Sports are definitely on the agenda at the moment with our Year 6 students currently particpating in Interschool Sports with other local Catholic Primary Schools on Friday afternoons, playing AFL, Newcomb and Netball.  This Friday sees our Grey teams at home playing against St Michael's while our Red teams will be travelling to Don Bosco in Narre Warren.

Parent Teacher meetings continue this afternoon from 3.30pm in the modular building. It has been great to see so many parents taking up the opporunity to catch up with their children's teachers.  It really is a team effort and important that we work together to provide the best learning environment and opportunities for all students.

St Clare's Feast Day is Monday 11 August with lots happening to celebrate.  There will be Mass at St Patrick's Church on Saturday 9 August at 6pm which will be followed by pizza in the Parish Hall.  We invite and encourage all families to join us for Mass and pizza afterwards.

On Monday 11 August the students will be placed in multi aged groups to participate in a range of activities led by Kaboom Sports.  Parents are invited and welcome to join us from 11.15am.  After Lunch the students will receive a Zooper Dooper which have been provided by Camp Australia for all students. 

Students are to wear sports uniform on Monday 11 August

PUPIL FREE DAY - Monday 25 August is a pupil free day, there is no school for students on this day while staff particpate in Professional Development for the day.

St Clare's Feast Day is Monday 11 August

Our celebrations will begin with Mass on Saturday 9 August at 6pm at St Patrick Church in Pakenham.  We invite everyone to join us for Mass followed by pizzas in the Parish hall.

On Monday 11 August the students will be placed into multi aged groups to participate in a range of activities led by Kaboom Sports.  All students are to wear sports uniform on this day.

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Thank you for supporting your child's commitment to the St Clare’s Choir in 2025. 

As part of St Clare’s Feast day celebrations the School Choir will be leading and supporting the Mass on Saturday 9 August at St Patrick’s Pakenham.  We are asking Choir members to arrive at 5.30pm for 6pm Mass. Families are invited to stay for Mass and pizza afterwards. 

Please feel free to contact myself or Ms Staindl if you have any questions.

Kind Regards 

Maria-Grazia Ricchetti

As part of the Cybersafe series we are looking at the problems young people could face when it comes to posting images of themselves online. This week’s School Tv looks at Sextortion and the impact that this can have on our youth. 

A Special Report: Sextortion

You may not be familiar with the term, but ‘sextortion' is a form of blackmail where someone threatens to share intimate images of you unless you give in to their demands. It has been an issue for more than a decade, with many adults falling victim to this type of online crime. More recently though, it has been reported that there has been a higher rate of adolescent males falling victim, but that is not to say that young females are not also targeted.

Across the globe, organised criminal gangs are using social media, chat apps, instant messaging platforms and online games to target and connect with their victims. Recently, there has been a 400% increase in this type of crime being reported to police in Australia alone with these figures being replicated in most western countries. Any child that uses an online account to connect on social media, chat apps, instant messaging platforms or online games needs to understand the dangers associated with engaging with random people that they don’t know personally. Therefore, it is vitally important for adult carers to be aware of this serious issue and to start having an age appropriate conversation with their young person as early as possible to help protect them from online offenders making demands.

Even though your young person’s online account may be set to private, random people can still message your child. Managing devices can be difficult especially with older teens, but it is important to weigh up the risks and dangers. Sadly, even good kids who never make a poor decision elsewhere in their life, can and do make poor choices online.

This Special Report explains how your young person can fall victim to such a crime and what action to take to support them.

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this Special Report, and as always, we welcome your feedback.

If you do have any concerns about the wellbeing of your child, please contact the school for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to your special report:
https://stclaresofficer.catholic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-sextortion

Liz Hunt

Mental Health in Primary School Leader

lhunt@stclaresofficer.catholic.edu.au

On Friday 1st August our Foundation students reached a very special milestone — 100 days of school! To celebrate, we kicked off the day with a joyful parade, proudly cheered on by families who joined us for the fun.

Throughout the day, the number 100 was at the heart of everything we did. We practiced our counting skills to 100, read a story all about the adventures of reaching 100 days at school, and got creative with a 100 year old themed craft to mark the occasion.

When students were asked what they’ve learned after 100 days of school, their responses were full of pride and excitement:

• “We learnt how to count!”
  

• “We learnt how to create a numberline.”
  

• “We learnt our letters and sounds.”
  

• “We learnt how to write.”
  

• “We learnt how to pray.”

We also posed a fun question: "If you had $100, what would you spend it on?"
Here’s what some of our imaginative learners said:

• “I would buy a house.”
  

• “I would buy princess dolls.”
  

• “I would help people.”
  

• “I would buy a pool.”

It’s clear that after just 100 days, our students are not only growing academically but also developing creativity, compassion, and big dreams. We’re so proud of them and excited for what’s to come in the rest of the school year!

Asthma, Allergy and Anaphylaxis Plans

We ask that you ensure you provide us with the required medication & plans for your child as requested. 

Also, please ensure you update your cihld's medical profile in PAM if their are any changes in conditions or circumstances

Thanks in advance for your cooperation

How to Help Kids Stay Safe Online

Adapted from:  https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/blog    Office of the eSafety Commissioner

1. Start the chat

It’s not possible to be at your child’s side every second of the day, so it’s important to talk with them about online safety issues to help develop their critical thinking and ability to make good choices. It’s also good to let them know they can come to you for help if they have any concerns. You may feel they know more about the latest technology than you do, but you have more life experience to guide them.

• With primary school aged children use online devices in the open living spaces at home to make parent supervision part of the expectation for your child.
• Take the opportunity to set some boundaries around when and where they can use devices  like tablets, smart TVs and gaming consoles, to help limit potential tech tantrums — you could even fill in an Early Years Family Tech Agreement 
• Screen free time before bed is important for good sleep. Consider charging devices in a central location at a regular time each night to allow an hour screen free before bed.
• While you are all at home more, it’s a great time to co-view and co-play with your kids, so you can understand what they are doing and experiencing online.
• Learn about the games, apps, social media and platforms they are using at The eSafety Guide, including how to protect their information and report inappropriate content or conduct.

2. Use parental controls and safe search options

Parental controls can help block your child from accessing specific websites, apps or functions. They can also monitor your child’s use of connected devices and set time limits. But beware! You cannot always rely on them — they should be used in combination with other online safety strategies.

• Parental controls are available on most tablets, smartphones, computers, TVs and gaming consoles.
• You can also download family safety controls or buy robust filters out of the box. 
• You can set up child-friendly search engines, or select safe search settings on digital devices, to help prevent your child from stumbling across inappropriate sites and content.

3. Check smart toy settings

It’s surprising how many toys or devices can connect online these days, from drones and smart teddies to tablets and wearables. While they can be both entertaining and educational, they can reveal your child’s personal details and location — and allow other people to contact them without you knowing. You can help keep them stay safe by:

• setting strong passwords
• turning off location settings 
• limiting the amount of personal information shared.

The eSafety Gift Guide has advice on what to check for and how to stay safe.

4. Look out for unwanted contact and grooming

Unwanted contact is any communication that makes your child feel uncomfortable or unsafe, even if they initially welcomed the contact. It can come from a stranger, an online ‘friend’ or even someone they actually know. At worst, it can involve ‘grooming’ — building a relationship with the child in order to sexually abuse them.

You can help by:

• making sure their accounts are private — including chat functions on games
• encouraging them to delete requests from strangers and any contacts they don’t know in person
• checking in with your child as they use online devices in the open living spaces at home
• reporting and blocking anyone suspicious on a website or service 
• remembering that if suspicious online contacts become aggressive or threatening you should contact your local police.

5. Know the signs of cyberbullying

Kids who are bored by long periods at home can pick at each other, and that happens online too. So it’s important to keep an eye out for cyberbullying. It can include mean posts, comments and messages, as well as being left out of online group activities like gaming. 

• Remember, when they are away from school, kids have less access to their usual support systems, including friends, teachers and counsellors. 
• eSafety research shows that girls are more likely to be affected than boys and the person doing the bullying is generally someone they know from school.
• Watch out for signs such as your child appearing upset after using their mobile, tablet or computer, being unusually secretive about their online activities or becoming withdrawn.
• Cyberbullying can make social isolation worse and the longer it continues, the more stressed kids can become, impacting on their emotional and physical wellbeing.

What to do if your child is being cyberbullied

As parents, our first instinct may be to ban our children from social media, disable the wi-fi or turn off the data access. But this can actually compound the problem, making your child feel as if they’re being punished and heightening their sense of social exclusion.

There are four simple steps that can help minimise the harm:

• report the cyberbullying to the social media service where it is occurring
• collect evidence of the cyberbullying material
• if the material is still public 48 hours later, make a report to eSafety — we work with social media platforms to have the harmful content removed.
• block the offending user.